PRESIDENT'S REPORT 2020 | OUR FIRST 50

BGU PRESIDENT'S REPORT 2020

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Alex  Pinchas Sapir said to my father “I’ve got good news and better news. The client for your textile mill will pay a very good price. The better news is that you’re gonna give me all the money because the Old Man [DBG] wants to build a university in the Negev.” My father said “It’s a deal.” He really loved the idea of an Oxford in the desert. The cornerstone laying ceremony for our building* was the first time I was really in Beer-Sheva. And it was kind of a lunar setting… because in the middle of nothing there was the Aranne Library, which was a beautiful building. And in front of it was the Kreitman Building. And that was all there was! In ‘73 I went to live in Israel for eleven years. I got very involved in the University and went to Beer Sheva often. And the University itself – it just exploded. When Avishay Braverman came in, he really grew the University to what it is today. The job he did in those years as

Alexander M. Goren and Andrea Goren

Alexander M. Goren was born in Romania and has lived and worked in Israel, Italy and the USA. He is a managing partner at Goren Bros., a money management and real estate company. Alex and his family have been deeply involved with BGU since 1972, a commitment culminating with service as Chairman of the Board of Governors of BGU between 2012 and 2019 and an honorary PhD in 2015. Andrea Goren, Alex’s son, has an MBA from Columbia University and is currently managing director and CFO for Phoenix Group, a private equity firm. He is a third-generation supporter of BGU and a member of the first cohort of AABGU’s Zin Fellows Leadership Program. He lives in New York. Andrea recently became Treasurer of AABGU. Photos: 1 - Three generations (Avram Goldstein Goren, Alex Goren, and Andrea Goren) visit BGU together in the early 70s 2 - Alex and Andrea cook together in New York

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